You might be interested in using heat as a natural method to kill bed bugs. We’ll tell you everything you need to know!
When your home is full of bed bugs, of course, you want to get rid of them the quickest and safest way possible. You might have heard that heat kills bed bugs, and now you’re thinking about turning that thermostat in your house all the way up.
But are you so sure that making your home ridiculously hot is the best way to kill bed bugs?
With so many “miracle” solutions for bed bugs on the market, it’s hard to know what’s legit.
You can kill bed bugs with heat. That much is true. As professional bed bug exterminators, we use our own heat treatment methods to help you get rid of these nasty pests.
However, it’s worth noting that not all heat treatments are the same.
They won’t all get you the same results. Some just don’t work at all!
So before you go crazy trying to sweat those bed bugs out of your home, here is what you need to know to ensure your bed bug heat treatment is even more effective.
Let’s discuss how heat kills bed bugs and the best heat treatment methods for bed bug control.
Characteristics of Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are small, blood-sucking pests that will ruin your life if left unchecked. They aren’t invisible, but their tiny size makes them unnoticeable to the unsuspecting person. Most people don’t realize they have a bedbug problem until they wake up covered in bites.
A normal, adult bed bug is about the size of an apple seed (or 1/4”). Unfortunately for you, they can get pretty massive when they have a steady supply of blood to drink.
They are reddish-brown after a blood meal, although unfed or younger bed bugs may appear clear—making them even harder for you to spot if you’re not already looking for them.
These pests are mostly nocturnal. Bed bugs like to come out at night to feed on you when you’re least likely to notice them. They are attracted to the heat of your body, as well as the higher levels of carbon dioxide you release while sleeping.
It only takes a few weeks for a bed bug egg to hatch and grow into a fully-fledged adult. Since a single female can lay up to 7 eggs in a day—and up to 250 in its lifetime—that is bad news for you and your home.
All it takes is one of these awful critters to overrun your home. in the blink of an eye.
If you think you’ve seen bed bugs scurrying around your home, call an exterminator.
What Are the Common Places Where Bed Bugs Live and Lay Eggs?
Bed bugs prefer to exist somewhere close to their hosts, so they have easy access to your blood on demand. They are most likely to take up space where you spend the majority of your time.
Bed bug hiding places:
- Your pillows
- Your boxspring
- Your headboard
- Your baseboards
- Under your sheets
- The seams of your mattress
- Inside the cracks in your floors
- In your walls or electrical outlets
- Underneath your couch cushions
Q&A: Can I Heat My House to Kill Bed Bugs?
Heating your home will not kill your bed bugs—even if you turn your thermostat up as high as you possibly can. First of all, it takes extremely high temperatures to kill bed bugs.
You would have to raise the temperature to at least 113℉ and suffer like that for at least 90 minutes to get any results. If you want to do it in 20 minutes, you’d have to crank up the heat to a whopping 118℉.
That’s just for the bed bugs. You still have their eggs to worry about if you want to prevent a re-infestation from taking over your home. To kill those, you still need to suffer through 118℉ for 90 minutes total.
Even if you were able to achieve that kind of temperature in your home, there is no guarantee that you’ll actually get rid of the bed bugs.
Bed bugs are, unfortunately, incredibly savvy insects. They can signal to each other using pheromones if they’re in any danger.
You may be successful in killing 1 or 2. But most of them would just escape and come back when your house was cooler.
Then, they’d just continue to feast on your blood and wreak havoc on your sanity.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t use heat to kill bed bugs. Heat does kill bed bugs.
You just have to know how to use it.
Equipment Needed for Bed Bug Heat Treatment
If you have bed bugs hiding deep within your furniture, a bed bug spray might not be able to reach them successfully. Heat is an excellent option for killing them in cases like this.
You can use steam to direct the heat where you need it to go without turning your entire home into a sauna. Steam cleaning is one of the natural bed bug extermination methods we use on the job. But not just any steamer will do. You need an industrial bed bug steamer.
The heat from your regular household cleaner—the one you use on your clothes when you’re getting ready for work—will not reach a high enough temperature to kill bed bugs.
Everyday clothing steamers are usually made of cheaper materials that cannot withstand high temperatures safely for as long as you need them to. They also only let out a gentle mist of steam. That is not what you need.
An industrial-grade bed bug steamer, on the other hand, will deliver a high-powered blast of steam to bed bugs burrowed within your mattress. It will remain at a constant temperature safely for as long as is necessary to eliminate your pest problem.
By using steam, our exterminators can help you get rid of bed bugs without bringing harsh pesticides into your home, which means you don’t have to be bothered with the trouble of evacuating the whole family (unless you just want to get away).
Ask the Professionals
Using steam is a helpful way to get rid of bed bugs safely. But it takes the skill and experience of a seasoned exterminator to get the job done right.
It’s never a good idea to take chances when it comes to bed bugs.
Don’t try to take on large bed bug infestations by yourself.
The money you think you’re saving by cutting corners could end up costing you thousands if you get it wrong. If you miss even a single pest, you could have another infestation on your hands before you know it.
Spending all that time and money renting a steam machine and treating your home just to find out you didn’t even remove the pests from your home completely is not a good feeling.
Get the help of a knowledgeable professional who can help you do it right the first time.
Bedbug911 is Brooklyn’s leading bed bug extermination service.
We have been serving homeowners and businesses in the New York Tri-State area for nearly 30 years. Our innovative 3-Step Process allows us to eliminate bed bugs quickly and safely, without requiring you to lift a finger.
If you’re interested in bed bug heat treatments, our industrial bed bug steamers are a part of every service we provide.
But if harsh pesticides are your concern, then you’ll be glad to know we use natural, non-toxic bed bug sprays too.
Get help eliminating bed bugs the right way.
Call us today: 718 517 2227
